Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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86runner
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Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by 86runner » Tue Aug 28, 2018 12:40 pm

I'm fairly new here, but have lurked frequently for a while. I've gotten bitten pretty hard recently by the Jazzmaster bug and have thought about looking toward a vintage purchase at some point down the road. I'm a fan of thick necks and wondered if any specific years are known to have thicker necks, or if they're pretty much all over the map? I love blocks and binding, too, but that's a secondary want. If I could get both, it'd be even better! For reference, I love necks that start at .90. Not sure if JMs were ever that thick or not, but this is the perfect place to ask! If this has been asked before (which it probably has), my apologies. I did try some searching. I'd appreciate any advice/direction you guys could provide. Thanks!

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Enzo
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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by Enzo » Tue Aug 28, 2018 4:10 pm

My ‘63 jazzmaster is among the thicker vintage fender necks I’ve played. It’s the only ‘63 jazzmaster I’ve played though so I don’t know if it’s the norm.

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by savantjk » Tue Aug 28, 2018 4:16 pm

My 59 is .78 at the first fret.. but it's pretty worn too

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by kracdown » Tue Aug 28, 2018 4:23 pm

In my experience, they vary so much. My '62 had a medium neck, my '66 and '67 has/had skinny necks, and my '65 has a massive neck. I think generally the 59's are around .8, they get a little thicker until '66 and then they're skinny again.

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by takeittothemall » Tue Aug 28, 2018 4:23 pm

I've had and played a dozen or so vintage Jazzmasters from 1958 to 1966 and amongst that sample I've found that 62 necks had the thinnest profile and 65 necks had the fattest. 58-59s seemed thin in the cowboy chord area, but thicker around the 12th fret.

Admittedly, it's not a huge sample.
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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by Ursa Minor » Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:38 pm

My late 63 neck JM is a pretty beefy C-shape. .83" 1st / .99" 12th. Its a great feel. Its probably average with what people describe as the bigger mid-60s profile. They're kind of all over though. I've played a few that had anywhere from .79" - .87" at the 1st and .86" - .99" at the 12th.

Really need to play a few to get some ideas. The eras people mention are roughly accurate but there are always variations. Just putting it out there, these won't be nocaster-big, thats for sure. I don't think you're going to find 1" thick at the 1st fret. For that, I'd go with a Musikraft neck or something custom made.

That said, the bigger mid-60s (62-65) are a great place to start.
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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by agiehler » Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:57 am

.9 and up seems like a rare find, but they were hand carved so probably not impossible to find someone who also liked them thick.

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by 86runner » Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:26 am

Thanks guys! Yeah, these things are like unicorns even in Nashville, so it may be difficult to actually play a bunch. I would've thought Carter and Gruhn would have a few each, but neither have any JMs. Carter has a few Jags, but otherwise, this town seems dry. Honestly, I'd like to find a refin that's all original otherwise to keep the cost down. I'll probably just have to ask about neck specs as that really narrows down the field. Wish I could just swing an all original, but I've spent way too much money on guitars this year, and this is an impulse, albeit a very strong impulse! I like my wife and kids, so I'll need to tread lightly!

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by tinybobseger » Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:14 pm

Carter's had a sweet '66 blocks and binding jazzmaster with a really thick neck this time last year. Someone lucky must've bought it!

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by 86runner » Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:40 pm

tinybobseger wrote:
Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:14 pm
Carter's had a sweet '66 blocks and binding jazzmaster with a really thick neck this time last year. Someone lucky must've bought it!
Dang! Wish I'd been in the market then. That sounds perfect!

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by offsets4life » Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:53 pm

My 63 neck isn't what I'd call fat or "rounded"... More like a half -C shape,. rather than U-shape.
Hope that makes sense?
Skinnier than the couple of 66 Musicmaster / Duos I used to have.
AND the 67 Tele which was almost a V at the 1st fret.

The 65 XII I'm probably going to trade with a friend has a similar thin shape to the 63...
Another friend's 64 Jag is a little rounder than my Jazzmaster.

And another 69-70 Tele I picked up had a super-thin profile front to back.

As far as I recall these were all B necks except one Duo or the MM with an A nut width.
I thought that possibly the nut width might be a contributing factor to neck shape...,
But then, those two drastically different Tele's ( less than 2 years apart.) made me think that perhaps the shape of the neck backside was either down to customer request...
Or pure luck of the draw.

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by Hiwatt Bob » Thu Aug 30, 2018 6:51 pm

i took a couple rough measurements tonight--

both my '59's are around .77
my '62 slab is around .81
one L-series clay dot '65 is around .75
another L-series pearl dot '65 is closer to .77
my D&B '66's are .85
my B&B '69 is .80
my 2007 '62 AVRI is .77

These are not exact--but if you're looking for thicker necks go for CBS era or certain early '60's. out of all the gold guards i've played, all except one were on the thinner side. i've seen a lot of variation on the early '60's, so you'd probably want someone to take the measurement if sight unseen.

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by 86runner » Fri Aug 31, 2018 5:27 am

Hiwatt Bob wrote:
Thu Aug 30, 2018 6:51 pm
i took a couple rough measurements tonight--

both my '59's are around .77
my '62 slab is around .81
one L-series clay dot '65 is around .75
another L-series pearl dot '65 is closer to .77
my D&B '66's are .85
my B&B '69 is .80
my 2007 '62 AVRI is .77

These are not exact--but if you're looking for thicker necks go for CBS era or certain early '60's. out of all the gold guards i've played, all except one were on the thinner side. i've seen a lot of variation on the early '60's, so you'd probably want someone to take the measurement if sight unseen.
Thanks for this info! Extremely helpful. Yeah, I'll have the seller give me the measurements, whatever I do. Anything below .80, to me is just way too small. I have a polaris white 65 SG Jr that I restored and I feel like I'm going to break the neck just by playing barre chords! It's about .79 if memory serves. Very unstable guitar too with any slight humidity change, etc. Wife won't let me sell it! She wants anything vintage to go to our boys.

Looks like those 66s would be pretty well in the ball park. I had a Les Paul Traditional with a 50s neck that was about .85. I can get along with that.
Last edited by 86runner on Fri Aug 31, 2018 5:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by MT » Fri Aug 31, 2018 3:16 pm

Does it have to be vintage? Why not go the Danocaster route and pick from one of his chunkier neck shapes. You’ll get the vintage look and feel with the neck shape you want and you will have a much greater likelihood of getting a superb playing guitar than having to sift through vintage sales looking for one that both plays well and has the neck profile you want.

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Re: Vintage Jazzmaster Neck Carves

Post by 86runner » Fri Aug 31, 2018 5:22 pm

MT wrote:
Fri Aug 31, 2018 3:16 pm
Does it have to be vintage? Why not go the Danocaster route and pick from one of his chunkier neck shapes. You’ll get the vintage look and feel with the neck shape you want and you will have a much greater likelihood of getting a superb playing guitar than having to sift through vintage sales looking for one that both plays well and has the neck profile you want.
I love Danocaster's stuff, and he's in my backyard. But to be honest, I'd rather have something vintage. I've built one JM, and another is underway, along with probably 20 other various guitars throughout the years. I've never done anything "aged", but I've done enough with Reranch products that I can do a pretty nice nitro finish and put together as good a "partscaster" as I'll ever really need, honestly. Vintage is just so cool. I've had a few vintage restorations finished and aged by Josh at Protocaster, who in my opinion is one of the best. But, I just like real wear better than any "aging" techniques! With that said, if I buy a refin, a project, or a stripped JM, I'll probably be having it finished and aged anyway. Hopefully I can swing one with the original finish.

I've been reading the whole vintage vs boutique arguments here and there, and believe me I'm still kicking it around. I just feel like if I'm going to pay that kind of money I'll just buy vintage, or build one myself for a lot less!

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